Journal Article

8224 Adapting undergraduate medical education during the junior doctor and consultant strikes

Medlock, Rosemary, O’Sullivan Joanna, Costa Cristine Sortica da, Rosillo Boulton Anne Pacita, Venkatesan Pradeepa

2025

Overview

Why did you do this work?A series of junior doctor (now known as resident doctor) strikes significantly disrupted the NHS medical workforce and undergraduate training across England from March 2023 to June 2024. This was exacerbated by medical consultant strikes from July 2023. Medical students at one large paediatric teaching hospital were not allowed to attend clinical placements during periods of industrial action. This included students whose undergraduate training had already been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.1 To minimise further loss, this centre arranged a series of online ‘strike webinars’.What did you do?The undergraduate medical education team worked to ensure that the unique opportunity of clinical placement at the trust was not lost for students during industrial action. During five of the strike periods between September 2023 and June 2024, a half-day webinar was hosted by two clinical teaching fellows, designed for medical students missing their placement. The webinar covered clinically relevant paediatric skills such as history taking, and themes including child development, allergic conditions, and paediatric cases. Sessions were designed to be as interactive as possible. There was also a careers session run by a paediatric trainee, for those interested in a career in paediatrics. Online, anonymous feedback was collected after each session.What did you find?A total of 83 students attended across five webinars. Webinars were received positively. Anonymous feedback included the webinar being ‘very interesting’, ‘exceptionally helpful’, and ‘met a lot of my learning needs’. 75% of students strongly agreed with the statements ‘the topics were relevant to my learning needs’, ‘the webinar has increased my understanding of the topics’, and ‘I will use the knowledge I have gained from this session in my clinical practice’. In particular, sessions on history taking and paediatric emergencies were rated as ‘excellent’ by students.What does it mean?Students valued the interactive webinar in the absence of clinical placements. Due to the short notice of strikes, it was not possible to run the sessions face-to-face, though this may have been preferable to improve engagement and facilitate discussion. Based on student feedback, if future strikes were to occur, the webinar could be repeated, with an adjusted format, for example shorter, more frequent sessions. Although there is no direct replacement for clinical learning, clinically focused interactive teaching is beneficial and appreciated by medical students.ReferenceRainbow S, Dorji, T. Impact of COVID-19 on medical students in the United Kingdom. Germs. 2020;10(3):240–243.

• Publisher: BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subject: Confidence / Decision making / Emergency preparedness / Feces / Hypoxia / Ischemia / Likert scale / Likert Scales / Meconium / Multidisciplinary teams / Neonatal care / Neonates / Patient safety / Patients / Pediatrics / Periodicals / Postpartum period / Problem solving / Program Implementation / Qualitative analysis / Questionnaires / Respiratory tract / Safety / Seizures / Simulation / Training